Bešeňová Day Trip: Vlkolínec, a Sheep Farm and an Evening Soak

Two ways to spend a day with Bešeňová

Thermal Park Bešeňová is built on thermal water. The spring rises from a depth of 1,987 m at 60.5 °C. All year round 9 pools and 7 water slides are open, and in summer there are 20 pools and 15 slides and chutes in total. Spending a whole day in the water here is easy.

The other option is to combine the thermal pools with a trip. Bešeňová offers evening swimming for €12 online and €15 at the ticket desk. So you can be out on a trip in the morning and warm up in the thermal water in the evening for roughly a third of the price of a full-day ticket.

Which one to choose:

• with children who mainly want the slides, a whole day at the water park,
• with a group of adults, with your parents or as a couple, a trip and the thermal pools in the evening,
• when it rains, a whole day at the water park, as some of the pools are under a roof.

We have covered prices, opening hours and what the ticket includes in our guide to Bešeňová prices.

Morning: Vlkolínec

Vlkolínec is a village of wooden houses above Ružomberok, on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1993. It is about 20 km from Bešeňová, around 30 minutes by car. You can drive as far as the car park at the entrance, which costs €5 a day, and from there you continue on foot. Allow two to three hours for a walk around the village and the exhibitions.

The exhibitions cost €8 for adults and €4 for children aged 6 to 15. In autumn 2026 they are open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 16:00 and closed on Mondays. For other months, check the opening hours on vlkolinec.sk.

Lunch at a sheep farm

From Vlkolínec it is about 18 km to Salaš Krajinka in Černová near Ružomberok. It is a family-run sheep farm, or salaš, as they are called in Slovakia. They sell sheep’s cheese, bryndza (a soft sheep’s cheese), oštiepok, nite cheese strings and žinčica, a whey drink, and in the restaurant, which looks into the sheep shed, they cook Slovak dishes from their own produce. Check the restaurant’s opening hours on their website before you go.

Evening in the thermal pools

From the farm it is about 25 km to Bešeňová, around 25 minutes on the motorway. From 1 September 2026 the water park is open Sunday to Thursday until 20:00 and on Friday and Saturday until 21:00.

Buy your evening ticket online at gopass.travel, as it is cheaper than at the ticket desk. You will see what time it is valid from on a given day right when you buy it.

A shorter version with Havránok

If you do not feel like going to Ružomberok, stay by Mara. The Havránok Archaeological Open-Air Museum stands on a hill above Liptovská Mara near Liptovská Sielnica, about 10 km from Bešeňová. It is the first archaeological open-air park in Slovakia, with reconstructed fortifications, dwellings and a sanctuary from the Iron Age.

In 2026 it is open daily from 1 May to 31 October, from 9:00 to 16:00 in October. Admission is €4 for adults, and a family ticket for two adults and a child is €10. Havránok is also open on Mondays, which makes it a good stand-in for Vlkolínec.

On your departure day

Bešeňová lies at the western end of Liptovská Mara, on the road towards Ružomberok and Žilina. If you are heading home west, towards Bratislava or Vienna, you can have one last soak in the thermal pools on your final day and carry straight on to the motorway. Since 5 October 2026 the D1 has bypassed Ružomberok through the Čebrať tunnel, so according to the Ministry of Transport the drive home is 16 minutes shorter (Ružomberok bypass).

If you are staying with us, check-out is by 10:00. Bešeňová is 16 km away, so you will be at the water park shortly after it opens and set off home relaxed.

Next time, a weekend by Mara

In one day you can fit in the thermal pools and one trip. Over a weekend you can add Tatralandia, the cable car up Chopok or the Demänovská Cave of Liberty. How to combine them is in our guide Demänovská valley in a day.

Our log cabin in Liptovský Trnovec is 16 km from Bešeňová and 50 metres from the water. It sleeps 8 to 10 and has a fireplace, an infrared sauna and a garden with a barbecue. You will find available dates on our contact and booking page. We are a local host and nobody pays us for our recommendations.